THEMES & SPEAKERS

Sung Nim Han is the professor at the department of Food and Nutrition at Seoul National University. She received PhD degree in Human Nutrition from Tufts University, USA and completed dietetic internship at Brigham and Women's Hospital, USA. She continued her research in the field of nutritional immunology as Scientist and Assistant Professor at JM USDA Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging at Tufts University until she moved to Seoul National University in 2007.

Dr. Han is a founding member of the Korean Society of Clinical Nutrition, where served as Vice President (2018-2019) and President (2021). She also served as Vice President (2021-2022) and President (2023) of the Korean Nutrition Society. In addition, she contributed to revision of the 2020 Korean Dietary Reference Intakes (KDRIs) and 2025 KDRIs. She is serving as Vice President of the Korean Society of Lipid and Atherosclerosis in 2026. She has been a member of the advisory committee for policies related to upcycled foods.

Dr. Han received several awards in recognition of her achievements in the field of nutrition. In 2019, she was awarded by the Korea Ministry of Health and Welfare for her outstanding contributions. She is also the recipient of NRP the most cited paper award from the Korean Nutrition Society (2019), the JLA award from the Korean Society of Lipid and Atherosclerosis (2023), and 2026 Friedman School Excellence in Nutrition Alumni Award (2026).

Dr. Han has authored more than 110 original and review papers and over 25 book chapters. Her 2018 review paper published in Nutrients has been cited 772 times (as of Feb 10, 2026). Her research focuses on alterations in vitamin and mineral metabolisms in chronic diseases such as obesity and diabetes; regulation of immune and inflammatory responses by vitamins and dietary lipids; changes in immunometabolism associated with chronic diseases; and the effects of genetic information disclosure on dietary intake and health related behaviors.

Dr. Zhen-Yu CHEN is currently professor at School of Food Science in Guangdong Pharmaceutical University. He used to be Choh-Ming Li Chair professor at School of Life Sciences, The Chinese University of Hong Kong. He obtained his PhD degree from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. Professor Chen has published more than 300 SCI papers with a total citation of >23000 times and an H-index of 86. Professor Chen is the former Associate Editor of Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry. Professor Chen is currently Editor of Food Chemistry, Associate Editor of Phytomedicine, Associate Editor of Food Reviews International, and Senior Editor of Food & Medicine Homology. He also serves as a member of the Editorial Boards including Journal of Functional Foods, Food & Function, Food Science and Human Wellness, Biomedical and Environmental Sciences, and Acta Nutrimenta Sinica. Professor Chen has received several awards including the Advancement of Application of Agricultural and Food Chemistry Award from the American Chemical Society, the High Education Outstanding Scientific Research Output Award for Natural Science from the China Ministry of Education, and the Medal of Honour (MH) from Hong Kong SAR Government in recognition of his contributions to the promotion of food safety and protection of public health. Professor Chen is also the Fellow of American Chemical Society (Agricultural and Food Chemistry Division, USA) the Fellow of Royal Society of Chemistry (UK), and the Fellow of International Society of Nutraceuticals and Functional Foods.

Prof. Mieke Uyttendaele is Full Professor of Food Safety at Ghent University (UGent). She holds a Bio‑Science Engineering degree (1992) and a PhD in Applied Biological Sciences (1996). Her leadership roles include Faculty Director of Studies and Internationalization (2020–2025) and presently she chairs the Education group within ICA, the Association for European Life Science Universities. As a member of the Food Microbiology and Food Preservation Research Group at UGent, her work focuses on major foodborne pathogens - including Campylobacter, Listeria monocytogenes, Salmonella, Bacillus cereus and norovirus - covering detection methods, prevalence studies, control measures and risk profiling to support food safety management and microbiological criteria. She is the main author of the UGent book on microbiological guidelines and the ‘Pathogen-free food?’ book. She has published over 300 peer‑reviewed papers, supervised around 30 PhD students, and currently leads microbial hazard research within the EU FoodSafeR project.

Mark is a Professor of Food Microbiology and Discipline Head, Food Science & Technology in the School of Agriculture and Food Sustainability at the University of Queensland. He is Deputy Lead of the Innovative Ingredients program in the Food and Beverage Accelerator (FaBA). He leads a research team in the area of food fermentation, quality and safety. His current research focus is around food lactic acid bacteria and fungal fermentation applications and precision fermentation. He teaches into food microbiology, food safety and food biotechnology courses at UQ and is a Fellow of the Australian Society for Microbiology and Australian Institute for Food Science and Technology (AIFST). He was the recipient of the 2017 AIFST Keith Farrer Award of Merit and 2023 AIFST President’s Award. He is currently the President of the Australian Association for Food Protection.